Nilanjan Mazumdar Phd Defending Presentation.pptx

A STUDY OF THE BUSINESS PROCESSES OF THE
RAILWAY HAWKERS IN NORTH EASTERN REGION
Supervisor
Dr. D.Ghosh
Submitted by
Nilanjan Mazumdar
Reg. No. Ph.D/3151/17 Dt. 29/03/2017
Department of Business Administration

Presentation Outline:
• Introduction and Background of the Study
• Problem Statement
• Need Of The Study
• Objectives Of Study
• Research Questions
• Location Of The Study
• Limitations Of The Study
• Research Methodology
• Research Flow
• Organization Of The Study
• Findings of the study
• Conclusion and Recommendation 2

Introduction &
Background of the Study:
There is a great deal of unexploited purchasing power at the bottom of the
pyramid (Prahlad.C.K,2004). Corporate & Private enterprises/organizations
can ensure major returns by selling to the deprived section by trading
considering wideness of the population base.
Prahlad.C.K(2004) indicated that by selling to the economically deprived,
companies can may generate sources of income for them, and thus can help
eliminate or at best mitigate poverty.
The deprived section of the society who delve into business or trade practices
form the informal sector in most of the developing nations
(Hart,1970,1972,1973). Subsequently, over the years since the discovery of
Informal sector by Keith Hart in 1970 during the historic Accra, Ghana study,
the individuals involved in the sector have been predominantly observed to
experience ambiguity in their legal status, rights to carry trade and mostly
marginalized (Bhowmick,2002).
3

Introduction Continued…
Global Scenario
4
•It has to be noted that around the globe, about two thirds of all workforce work in the
casual/informal segment (World Bank, 2009).
•Scholars, investigators, researchers in the recent times have put up queries frequently on
“whether informal sector have to be viewed as a marginalized sector ?”
• Whereas, it accommodates the excess supply of unskilled and semi skilled work force of
developing nations by giving them entrepreneurial opportunities (Mazumder.D,1976)
• Which in turn stimulates the economic augmentation and employment formation as per
the African Union (Philip Amana, Samson & Ogwu, 2013).
•A study by Unni and Rani (2000) drawn the evidences on the aspect of emerging alignment
of the informal work force in the formal sector in South Asian Countries like Bangladesh and
Mayanmar. Likewise South American studies had high contribution to the literature.
•Authors such as Reddy et al. (2001) also made earnest attempts to throw light on Urban
livelihood studies such as Fiji’s Urban-Informal segment. Study by Dr Leah Onyango (2012)
at Kenya had prolific contribution to the literature on Informal Sector.

Introduction Continued…
Indian Context
5
The Government of India appointed a National Commission for the Enterprises in the
Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) in 2004 that has provided a comprehensive report on the informal
sector in India. Following are the features of the informal sector as per the report-
-Low scale of operation -Largely household organization -No record maintenance
-Expenditure indistinguishable from household expenses - Owners mobilize finances for
working capital and are personally liable - Handling of cash
Sharit.K Bhowmick in 2001(TISS) made significant exploration on Seven cities in India
including Imphal under North East region regarding the marginalized sectors involving
unregistered street vendors, hawkers, flying sellers.
Similarly, Debdulal Saha in 2008(TISS) and Chinnappan.D.(2016) conducted studies on the
hawkers of Mumbai Local trains.
1990’s
Economic Liberalization
accompanied with
Jobless Growth in the
formal sector
1995’s
Job Losses along with
lack of chances in the
formal sector
2000’s
Marginalized sector gets
attention due to the
sudden rise in
unemployment

The Argument
6
“Primarily, the question on whether the Informal Sector possesses any whatsoever
development potential? and secondly, is it independent or incorporated with the
formal sector? (Harriss,1990)”
A Collective View on the Informal sector
The pessimists view the sectors as both
marginalized and subjugated.
The positivists look out to it as a twin
or complementary to the formal
segment.
Source: Maiti, D., & Sen, K. (2010). The Informal Sector in India: A Means of Exploitation or
Accumulation? Journal of South Asian Development, 5(1), 1–
13. https://doi.org/10.1177/097317411000500101
1970’s 1980’s 1990’s
Discovery Identity Understanding the phenomena &
Exploratory designs
Transforming
information into tools
Poverty,
Unemployment etc.

• Research Flow
• Findings

Problem Statement
8
The informal sector in India has remained stubbornly large and shows no sign of decreasing in
importance despite several years of economic reforms and high economic growth (Sanyal and
Bhattacharya ,2009).
Roy & Mitra(2018) in their comprehensive study on the livelihood patterns of railway hawkers in
Tripura addressed the individuals involved in the trade of railway hawking level of happiness,
business environment and network.
A study on the railway hawkers on the livelihood patterns by Mandal.B (2019) where he
appraises the railway hawkers and station stall-keepers of some selected stations of the Indian
Sundarban railway network.
The railway hawkers operating in the North East region of India has not been studied as of yet.
From the literature review it was revealed that business patterns in the trade of railway hawking
is yet not been studied significantly and passengers views on railway hawkers were not found to
be registered until now.

Theroux, P. (1975). The great railway
bazaar: By train through Asia.
Sharma, R. N., & Sita, K. (2008). Hawkers and
Vendors in Mumbai, India. Indian Journal Of Social
Work, 69(3), 339-36
9

Kozhikode. (2016). Railway to introduce new
hawker policy. The Hindu.
Haider.T (2019).Train hawkers seek licenses from
railway ministry, Want freedom from middlemen.
India Tomorrow.
10

Chinnappan.D.(2016).Formalizing the predicament of the
Informal sector: A Study of the Female Hawkers in the Local
Trains of Mumbai. The Rights, 2(1),74-82
Sharma.R.(2016).Railway to frame policy on
hawkers. The New Indian Express.
11

Views Authors
“Alternate opportunities of
employment”
Stationed hawkers and their uneven distribution amongst the number of
stations on the rail route offers opportunity to natives for generating
income through railway hawking (Mandal,2019).
“Persuasive and skilled in
price negotiations”
consumers buy merchandise due the persuasion techniques employed and
not out of any sagacity (Fadaee, S., & Schindler, 2017).
“Resilient & Survivalist
instincts”
With vulnerabilities in their daily chores and how they manage to survive
with the constraints. Addresses to the need of the public for merchandises
at cheap and convenient prices (Mitra & Roy, 2016)
“Contributors to the
economy” & “struggling
entrepreneurs.”
Railway Hawkers are fraction of the world of trade and should find a
position in the commercial scene and to add value to a nation’s economy
(Chinnappan.D.,2016).
“marginalized work-force” Looking into the livelihood potential of the railway hawkers and to devise
policy framework which that considers inclusivity (Sharma,2016)
“Micro entrepreneurs ” Singapore street hawkers encourage street entrepreneurship and India
could learn (Johari.A ,2014)
“An Unseen Channel” It also creates an unseen channel for providing merchandise and services
at inferior prices (Anderson, Harbi, Brahem, 2013)
“Not structured nor static” Neither well structured nor a static segment however it contributes to a
great extent to economic augmentation (Philip Attah et.al, 2013) 12

View Authors
“Parallel economy“ This sectors inherent characteristic of self reliance while functioning
beyond any institutional sustenance creates a parallel economy
(Anderson, Harbi, Brahem, 2013)
“Decadal growth from
census 2001 to 2011”
The unorganized sector casually employed augmented from 426.20
million to 435.66 million for that period, hence the trend suggest it is yet
increasing (Srija & Shirke,2014)
“Creates entrepreneurial
opportunities”
Authors also argued that entrepreneurial opportunities survive in parallel
of category, but whether they are subjugated (Troilo, 2010).
“Sustenance of Smaller
units”
Hawkers bridge the gap between producers and consumers making a
valuable contribution (Shapiro.A,2009)
“Business amidst varied
uncertainties”
Opined that informal vending should be regulated properly and not
abolished with legitimate barriers by the local authorities rather than
sudden eviction drives (Bhowmik,2007)
“Bridging for small
industries and daily
commuters”
They provide a valuable service by supporting lot of industries as
marketers of their goods (Bhowmik,2002)
“Feeling secured” Vendors shaped secured public places and augment the quality of
existence inside the city areas (Duneier.M,1999)
“eyes of the streets” That people actually feel safer on a streets filled with others around rather
than an empty one (Jacobs.J,1961).
13

• Research Flow
• Findings

Need Of The Study
15
• The unorganised sector in the current scenario of Northeast India is facing
unprecedented challenges. When we talk of unorganised sector the eye rolls over
street vendors and daily wage labourers or piece meal work force.
• Railway hawking in the present times has become a very high yielding, income
generating trade for earning hard cash on daily basis for the unskilled work
force living near the major junctions of the cities.
• The railway hawkers serve the general population while being resourceful in
every possible way by means of providing essential supplies during a travel time.
In that context we may refer to this phenomenon as a moving market, where an
eco-system evolves with a community of buyers supporting the business and a
community of sellers who serves them.

• Research Flow
• Findings

17
Objectives Research Questions
•To examine the product portfolio of the railway
hawkers operating in the North Eastern
Region.
•What are the categories of items do
railway hawkers sell?
•To delineate the distinctive features of
business processes of the railway hawkers in
the region
•What is the nature of the business of
railway hawking?
•Why do individuals choose railway
hawking as a way of living?
•To assess the buyers response to the
products offered by the railway hawkers and to
identify the factors determining the buyer’s
response
•What are the buyer’s responses on
the attributes of various items
offered by the railway hawkers?

• Research Flow
• Findings

Location of the Study:
19
The study population is confined to North East Region of India which
consists of unregistered hawkers who are engaged in rail hawking
over the major routes of Northeast Frontier Railways on Guwahati
to Dibrugarh , Guwahati to New Jalpaiguri and Badarpur to Lumding
for the purpose of this study .The preference of route was on the
context of absorption of these hawkers.
The routes were selected on the basis of traffic density data
acquired from https://nfr.indianrailways.gov.in/
Route Code Routes Selected for the field Study Distance* Hours*
R1 Dibrugarh to Guwahati 560 km 13 hours
R2 Guwahati to New Jalpaiguri 408 km 7 hours
R3 Badarpur to Lumding 170 km 5 hours
*Indicates one way Distance in kilometers and travel time in Hours

• Research Flow
• Findings

Limitations of the Study
21
Every study has its own set of pitfalls and experience subdues for that; however, the
present study identifies the following limitation that aroused while conducting the
study over a period of 4 years.
•The study covers a limited geographical area,
•Lack of secondary sources.
•The study considers relatively small sample size.
•Although the study is indicative but non-exhaustive in nature.

• Research Flow
• Findings

Research Methodology
23
Objective one & two Objective three
Population= Unknown
Sampling Universe = North East Region
Sampling Frame = Northeast Frontier Railway
routes
Sampling Unit= Hawker in each three routes
Sample size = 192
Population = Unknown
Sampling Universe = North East Region
Sampling Frame = Northeast Frontier Railway
route
Sampling Unit= Commuters in each three routes
Sample size = 673
Sampling Method
A multi-stage sampling method was adapted for engaging the Railway hawkers and Purposive Sampling
was chosen for acquiring responses from passengers.
(1) Choice of route for study,
(2) Identify the groups willing to respond to the survey,
(3) Getting equity members from each group who were to participate in the survey.
Sample size determination was adapted from Israel’s (1992) published statistical table. And the utilisation
of published tables is recommended for determining the size from a given approximate population
(Ivankova et al. 2006).

Researchtype
24
•The study is exploratory in nature, varied methods had to be adopted to achieve the
objectives set for the study.
•The study used data triangulation, which involve different method of data collection as well as
data analysis (Crosswell,2003).
Data were administered through:
Objective one & Objective two Objective three
•Structured questionnaire (Self Administered)
•Key informant interviews with open ended questions
•Group Discussion
•Note making
•Structured questionnaire
•Note making

Data analysistools
25
In qualitative nature of information gathering, it is recommended that when the collected
facts does not throw any further light on the issue under investigation the data is presumed to
have reached its concentration (Glaser & Strauss,1967).
•For analysis IBM SPSS 23 was engaged for quantitative interpretations and further
transcribed sheet was prepared for the qualitative dataset gathered from FGDs and interviews.
•For the all objectives Cross tabulations were used whereas for the second objective chi-square
was administered specifically again for the last objective regression came out being useful.
•Frequencies and tabulation were consistently utilized through out the study.
Tables Figures Diagrams Plates
43 13 4 17
Tools Utilized
•Cross Tabulation
•Frequencies and Percentages
•Descriptive statistics
•Regression

• Research Flow
• Findings

Organization of the Study
29
Chapter 1: An Introduction Of The Study
Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework
Chapter 3: Product Portfolio Of The Items Offered By Railway Hawkers
Chapter 4: Distinctive Features Of The Business Processes Of The Railway
Hawkers
Chapter 5: Assessment Of Buyers Responses To The Products Offered By
The Railway Hawkers And To Identify The Factors Determining
The Buyer’s Responses
Chapter 6: Summary, Key Findings And Conclusion,Recommendations

Organization of the Study
Conceptual Framework
30
Railway Hawkers - Definition And Scope
•Identifying Railway Hawkers in the fabric of informal sector
•Railway hawking as an informal business
•Socio-Economic and Demographic distribution of Railway Hawkers in North East Region
Operating on Major Routes
Business Process Definition
•Interrelated activities : A majority of the authors describe the components of the process as
interrelated activities (Harrington, 1991), (Hammer & Champy, 1993), (Talwar, 1993),
(Rentzhog, 1996), (Armistead & Machin, 1997), (Llewellyn & Armistead, 2000), (Ljungberg,
2002) and (Isaksson,2006).
Product Portfolio - Concept And Components
•Product Portfolio in informal sector (Mitra & Roy, 2018), (Mandal.B.,2019)

• Research Flow
• Findings of the study

Findings of the Study:
Objective one: To examine the product portfolio of the railway
hawkers operating in the North Eastern Region
32
•The product portfolio of the railway hawkers range from Packed, Unpacked, Crafts,
Utility/Service, Books/Magazines and Illegitimate items forming its Product line to the
variety of items under each of the category-items forming-its product length .
•Popular Packed eatables like dry cakes, wafers/chips, salted peanuts, Along with
packed drinking water were observed to be the most sought for item as these are
essentials of any short trips.
•Popular Unpacked items include tea/coffee, the fried chick peas with onion, boiled
eggs etc

Findings of the Study: Continued…..
Objective one: To examine the product portfolio of the railway
hawkers operating in the North Eastern Region
33
High growth Unpacked Items Utility items
Low growth
Illegitimate items
Books &Magazine
Packed Items
Crafts
Low benefits High benefits
Table 13: Product Portfolio Matrix of the categories of items
Growth: Usage of items for entering into the trade
practice of railway hawking.
Benefits: Returns from the Items sold.
The Product Portfolio List: The Entire List of items
along with the category forming its Product Line and
Product Length is as follows;
(To be shared from the original document)
Figure 3 : Category of items and average monthly income

34
Summary of objective one:
•The product portfolio of the railway hawkers suggest that, the members occupied in hawking are
performing like an intermediary connecting the customers and the indigenous, small scale producing units
who are engaged in manufacturing local crafts and handlooms.
•The market of packed drinking water is significantly large than collective category of the items offered
by the railway hawkers. Given the needs and wants of the customers and despite of the presence of local
brands in packed drinking water there is potential for new brands to penetrate the market with innovative
packaging and pricing it wisely.
•In the product portfolio of the railway hawkers it was identified that pricing is a key aspect where they
fundamentally play along. For unpacked items the pricing were fixed and mostly ranging from ten to
forty rupees. Again, In case of the crafts and utility items they had their own discretion on pricing the
articles. Whoever sells on above the cost price of the article makes profit out of selling the item.
•If efforts are strategically put on building reputation amongst the general public who fall under the
bottom of the pyramid, advertising and promotional efforts by corporates may yield at lower cost with
higher visibility and eventually achieve economies of scale.

Objective two: To delineate the distinctive features of business
processes of the railway hawkers in the region
35
No Route Frequency Valid Percent
R1 Dibrugarh To Guwahati 32 16.7
R2 Guwahati To New Jalpaiguri 119 62
R3 Badarpur To Lumding 41 21.4
Total 192 100
Table 10: Railway Hawkers in Major Rail Routes Distribution
Education level Frequency Valid Percent
No Formal Education 62 32.3
Up To Primary 79 41.1
Primary To HS 48 25.0
HS To Graduate 3 1.6
Total 192 100.0
Table 14: Education level and population
Income Level
Primary Occupation
Total
Yes No
Less Than 4000
94
49.0%
11
5.7%
105
54.7%
4000-8000
45
23.4%
9
4.7%
54
28.1%
Above 8000
24
12.5%
9
4.7%
33
17.2%
Total
163
84.9%
29
15.1%
192
100.0%
Source: Field Survey
Table 17: Primary Occupation and Income Level of Railway Hawkers
Majority of the hawkers interviewed were from route R2,
Whereas R3 hawkers were most cooperative.
Gender Frequency Valid Percent
Male 169 88.0
Female 23 12.0
Total 192 100.0
Source: Field Survey
Table 18: Gender distribution of respondent railway hawkers

36
4.0.2- Identifying the set of activities involved in the Business Process of Railway Hawking
VENDORS
HAWKERS
CUSTOMERS
Base
Kitchens
SUPPLIERS
Procurement and
Storage phase
Distribution,
Assembling and
Selling Phase
Diagram 2: Flow process of a railway hawker selling boiled egg
Diagram 3: Stock keeping units and train switching of railway hawkers

Findings of the Study: Continued…
37
Plate 5: Flow chart depicting the set of activities involved
in the business process of railway hawkers

38
Diagram 1: Timeline depicting types of Railway Hawkers
Hawkers Association/Union Place/Station/Locality
Badarpur Hawkers Sangha Badarpur Junction
New Bongaigaon Hawkers Union New Bongaigaon
New Jalpaiguri Hawkers Union New Jalpaiguri/ Siliguri
Lumding Hawkers Association Lumding Junction
Furkating/Moranhat Hakwers Union Furkating junction
*Note:- The names of the Unions/Association may vary as these were verbally gathered from
correspondence
President
General Secretary Treasurer
Member hawkers
Figure 7: Selling way employed by railway hawkers and earnings from each varied categories of earnings

39
4.0.3 - Determinants of Choosing Railway hawking as a means of livelihood
Variables Significance Cramer’s V
Accessibility 0.032 0.621
Customers Availability 0.443 0.206
Suppliers Proximity 0.000 0.589
Less Skill requirement 0.000 0.447
Earning hard Cash 0.004 0.883
Table 25: Association between decision to take hawking as a way of living
and the associated variables
Railway hawking as a way of
living
Total
X2
Value
P
Value
yes no not sure
Earning hard
cash on regular
basis helps in
survival
Agree 136 23 2 161
15.526 0.004
70.8% 12.0% 1.0% 83.9%
disagree 6 3 0 9
3.1% 1.6% 0.0% 4.7%
not sure 14 5 3 22
7.3% 2.6% 1.6% 11.5%
Total 156 31 5 192
81.3% 16.1% 2.6% 100.0%
From the table we can observe
that the Cramer’s V having
value above 0.500 are the
factors with moderate to
higher level of association.
Accessibility, Suppliers
proximity and earning hard
cash are among the identified
factors to have higher level of
association on choosing
railway hawking as a way of
living by the railway hawkers.

40
Local creditors
Micro-fincance
agnecies/Banks
Self financed
yes 33 55 80
no 20 0 4
33
55
80
20
0
4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Railway
hawkers
Bank account and Access to finance
Respondents who possessed a bank
account resorted mostly to self
finance with some to micro financial
agencies/bank loans and very few to
local creditors. Again, the railway
hawkers who doesn’t have any bank
account compulsorily had to go for
local creditors and self finance as
bank loans and drawing credit from
micro finance agencies required
considerable amount of paper work.
4.0.6– Bank account and accessibility to finance for the business
Figure 10: Bank account and access to finance composition of the railway
hawkers
Major impediments identified and driving
views were:
•Paper works
•Dearth of schemes
•Digital transaction insecurity
•Cash in hand better than cash at bank

41
Summary of the objective two:
There are broadly two categories of train hawkers:
•Based on their Offerings
•Based on their Operation
•Despite of the lower level of income around 94 percent still consider railway hawking as
their primary occupation indicating that people in this trade despite of their vulnerabilities are
still holding on to the trade as means of earning a decent living.
•Among the respondent hawkers 88 percent were males and 12 percent were females who
showed willingness to participate in the survey
Goods
Services
Operating
Independently
Operating Under
Hawkers Union
The most distinctive part of the
business process of the railway
hawkers is their way of employing
varied methods to sell the items.
•Chanting
•Rattling of items
•Demonstrating
•Presentation

Objective three: To assess the buyers response to the products
offered by the railway hawkers and to identify the factors determining
the buyer’s response
42
Parameters Authors
Usefulness Moldovan,S., Goldenberg,J., & Chotoopadhyay,A.(2011)
Negotiation Rapport,A., Erev,I,&Zwick,R.(1995)
Sheth,J.N.(1983) , Shalvi.S., Reijseger,G., Handgraaf,M.J.(2013)
Appelt,K.C.,Femke,S., Giacomantonio,M.,& De Dreu,C.K.(2013)
Hygiene Lo, L. Y. S., Lin, S. W., & Hsu, L. Y. (2016).
Cortese, R. D. M., Veiros, M. B., Feldman, C., & Cavalli, S. B. (2016).
Islam, N., & Ullah, G. M. (2010).
Noor, F., & Sarker, M. (2015).
Inbalakshmi, M., Govindarajan, K., Banu, C. V., & Vijayanand, V. (2014).
Price worthiness Rothenberger, S. (2005)
Thomas, L. C. (2009)
Presentation Saha, P., & Roy, B. (2016)
Chiu, C. (2013)
Mramba, N. R. (2015)
Packaging Maneepong, C., & Walsh, J. C. (2013)
Cortese, R. D. M., Veiros, M. B., Feldman, C., & Cavalli, S. B. (2016).
Smell Choi, J. (2016)
Tacken, G., & van den Puttelaar, J.
Kusakabe, K. (2010)
Quality Saha, P., & Roy, B. (2016)
Maneepong, C., & Walsh, J. C. (2013)
Lestari, R., Amelia, L., & Hizrian, A. (2018)
Table 30: List of selected parameters identified from literature
In the context of the study it is important to
note that the routes chosen for the study are
limited to the North East Frontier Railway
Regional Network only and hence the
outcomes should be treated as non
exhaustive, so as to maintain the spirit for
further researches in the similar domain.
The parameters chosen for measurement may
vary on any other geographical location of
the country.

43
An important aspect of the studies related to the field of consumer preferences and understanding
consumer responses is to get acquainted composition of the buyers considered for the study. Besides,
without acknowledging the subject of the study no investigation can achieve its objectives.
5.0.1 Demographic and Economic Composition of the buyers:
Figure 11: Gender and Age distribution
The respondents were intercepted
while buying or after the
transaction has taken place
between them and the hawker.
The ethical part of maintaining
the secrecy of information was
assured while collection of
responses.

Findings of the Study: Continued….
44
Figure 13: Responses To The Parameters by buyers on products offered Railway
Hawkers with mean and variance comparison
The scale of 1- No priority, 2-less priority, 3- not sure, 4-
High priority,5- Very high Priority.
The usefulness with a mean of 5 and 0.00
variance suggests that every responded
selected this parameter at the highest
priority follows Negotiation. It can be
concluded that respondents while buying
from the railway hawkers do not really
expect quality to such extent as there lies
a difference of opinion.

45
A general understanding was attained on attitudes of varied buyers by throwing open ended
questions to the buyers , categorized as following;
Impulsive buyers – One of the widely used definition of psychological impulses have been put
forward by Goldenson(1984) where he describes it as a strong urge or sudden urge to act
without any particular deliberation. Hence, impulsive buyers are those who are found buying
items on their immediate needs.
Delayed gratifiers– These buyers would buy items from the railway hawker but these urge or
need for the items bought may not be immediate. However, they purchase the items on
witnessing them as they find it would be useful in the future times to come.
The Negotiator – One who negotiates on prices of every article sold by the railway hawkers.
Despite of the lower prices of items offered by the railway hawkers they still tend to negotiate
expecting to crack a deal at highly negotiated value.

46
List of Predictors used for the assessment in the study included the following:
Eatables Non-Eatables
Negotiation Price worthiness
Quality Quality
Price worthiness Packaging
Smell Authenticity
Hygiene Negotiation
Presentation Usefulness
Source: Literature survey
To achieve the objective of the study on identifying
the factors determining the buyers responses a set of
questions were asked to the respondents via a
structured questionnaire from where we chose 7
(seven) questions to form a credibility score and
accumulated it to a scalar dependent variable with
other predictor variables of distinctive parameter of
two broad categories of items namely eatables and
non eatables. This method was adopted from a study
by Dr Leah Onyago & Jacob Onyango during 2012
on street vendors dynamics at Kenya.
5.0.2 Factors Determining the Responses:

47
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error
of the
Estimate
1 .524a 0.275 0.268 2.44538
a. Predictors: (Constant), Negotiation, Quality, Price worthiness,
Smell, Hygiene, Presentation
For Eatables
Table 38 : ANOVAa for Eatables
Model Sum of
Squares
df Mean
Square
F Sig.
1 Regressio
n
1509.286 6 251.548 42.066 .000b
Residual 3982.590 666 5.980
Total 5491.875 672
a. Dependent Variable: Score_credibility
b. Predictors: (Constant), Negotiation, Quality, Price worthiness, Smell, Hygiene,
Presentation
The R value represents the
simple correlation , which is
relatively low here.
R2 indicates how much of the
total variation in the
dependent variable an be
explained by the independent
variable. The significance
level suggests that the
predictors fits in the
regression model.
Table 37: Model Summary for Eatables

48
For Non-Eatables
Model R R Square
Adjusted
R Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1 .855a 0.731 0.728 1.49022
a. Predictors: (Constant), Priceworthiness_1, Quality_1,
Packaging_1, Aunthenticity_1, Negotiation_1, Usefulness_1
Table 41 : Model Summary for Non-Eatables
Table 42 : ANOVAa for Non-Eatables
Model
Sum of
Squares df
Mean
Square F Sig.
1 Regression 4012.856 6 668.80
9
301.
164
.000b
Residual 1479.020 666 2.221
Total 5491.875 672
a. Dependent Variable: Score_credibility
b. Predictors: (Constant), Priceworthiness_1, Quality_1, Packaging_1,
Aunthenticity_1, Negotiation_1, Usefulness_1
The R value represents the
simple correlation , which is
relatively high here.
R2 indicates how much of the
total variation in the dependent
variable can be explained by
the independent variable. The
significance level suggests that
the predictors fits in the
regression model.
Score_credibility =

49
The results:
Eatables Non-Eatables
Out of 6 predictor variables 4 were found to
be statistically significant;
Hygiene,
Quality,
Presentation
Smell
In relation to the credibility score.
Out of 6 predictor variables 5 were found to
be statistically significant
Authenticity,
Packaging,
Usefulness/Resourcefulness,
Negotiation
Price worthiness
In relation to the credibility score.

50
Summary of the objective three:
The findings suggest that there are some specific areas in the railway hawking trade
which can be explored, captured and utilized by the corporate; such as adequate
and attractive packaging of items, ensuring usefulness of the small items but in
larger quantity to achieve economies of scale, further by developing advertising
methods by sponsoring the railway hawkers with endorsed apparels might help
which in turn may come out to be counter-productive for the businesses supplying
them the items.

• Research Flow
• Findings

Conclusion and Recommendation
52
•It was identified that the railway hawkers or for that case any informal firm finds difficulty in
accessing the recognized formal credit market. Which is largely due to their unsure legal
standing and lack of appropriate financial records, and lack of credit-rating procedures.
•Whilst India’s Informal economy reflects substantiation of unending vulnerability, there is
recent indication for real earnings by means of railway hawking.
•In the study we have underlined that, among the railway hawkers originating from semi-urban
and rural, are skilled in the field of selling techniques and many of them employ various
methods to demonstrate their items with innovative ways; however, the level of awareness of
the needs regarding hygiene and quality by the passengers and the customers are not well
addressed
•The large corporate houses can also intervene with their various range of fast moving
consumer goods owing to the fact that these hawkers are a bunch of effective marketers and
sellers.

53
•Initiatives to encourage demand creation for merchandizes and services that prevails in the
informal sector markets can be taken up by the private organization and big corporate owing to
the view proposed by C.K Prahlad’s “profit at the bottom of the pyramid”, taking under
consideration the fact that railway hawkers are exposed to a large population which has a
higher propensity of turning into their consumers.
•Efforts should also be taken up by the Government to encourage the arrangements of
supporting the interlink-ages amongst the entrepreneurs who prosper and evolve in the
informal sector while flanked by the hawkers. Finally, recognized sector enterprises such as
MSME(medium small micro enterprises), home based registered manufacturing units and their
networks should be mobilized while assimilating these informal vendors into their channel
distribution with an appropriate legal status.
•By agreeing upon the facets of train hawking and the administrations indifference in
suggesting avenues for uplifting the status of train hawkers requires practical implementations
which are more realistic and non-punitive such as eviction and charges..

54
•The Policy makers may attempt to establish a link between the formal economy and the
unorganized and informal business units by way of government regime contracts for example,
which might be worn as an encouragement intended for casual units operating in the
unorganized sector to bring their operation into formal grounds in collaboration with private
organization and big corporate Initiatives to encourage demand creation for merchandizes and
services that prevails in the informal sector markets.
•It is essential to recognize how numerous individuals get involved in this trade and are in fact
get self-employed although may be temporary in nature in this occupation and consequently
devise an appropriate registration system, so as to enable the government in keeping track of the
statistics. By means of such an arrangement authorities as well as the concerned organizations
may attain benefits.

Papers published
55
IJSTR, 2019 IJSTR, 2019

56
ASSAM TRIBUNE, 2016
AEBM, 2017

57
Plate 6- Rendezvous with
the key Informant Mr.
Mrinal Adhikary at
INTTUC Office Near New
Jalpaiguri
Plate 9 - Rendezvous with a
Railway hawker Mr. Babul
Bardhan at NJP Junction
Plate 7- Rendezvous
with a Railway hawker
Mr. Bidhan Roy at
Siliguri Junction

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